What will happen when a certain loud and irritating Gryffindor boy decides he needs his Astronomy grade to be higher? What will happen when an exhausted star lover happens to fall asleep in the wrong area in the library? Read the tales of Arabella a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
-Jane Austen
THE REST OF THE day seemed to fly by in a rather quick manner leaving Arabella to feel quite relaxed towards the evening. She searched through her books in order to find any pieces of extra work that she was meant to be doing, but as she encountered piece after piece she decided, for her own sanity, that she would not be completing it just yet. Instead she made the decision to wander about the castle to clear the fogginess from her head.
Holding both sides of her worn robe, she folded the fabric over her chest and trapped it beneath her forearms as she elegantly glided down the stone stair case that led to the common room. Her chin was held high as to avoid any suspicion or to just make sure no-one attempted to talk with her as she was really not in the mood for it. Cool brass stung her palms due to the sheer cold that it emitted.
An older muggle tune had popped into her head earlier on in the day and it seemed that the pestering lyrics had no intention of leaving her mind anytime soon. A faint hum left her lips in a rhythmic pattern as she began to outwardly express the musicality that plagued her mind. As the tune came to an end Arabella, rather conveniently, found herself at the destination she had been aiming for.
The library for her was a wonderous place filled with something for everyone, whether it be placid information that one needed to learn for a lesson or whether it was a passage that helped transport them away from their lives. She was the latter. Being at home during breaks tended to be filled with prejudiced comments and dinners were she was trodden all over so to recall a sweet romantic novel often helped to keep her sane.
Recently, she had just finished pouring over the pages of 'Pride and Prejudice' written by the romantic era author Jane Austen. The story consisted of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy falling in love with one another with very little tragedy. Arabella who often appeared to be a stoic with a neutral façade had found herself giggling and smiling at the cute moments throughout the book. She could have sworn that when Mr Darcy began his spiel about Elizabeth bewitching him a high pitched sound of excitement left her mouth, even though she would never admit this.
Dust coated her fingertips as she recounted the emotions that caused her heart to swell, with a final sigh she made a gap on a shelf and carefully slotted in the current source of her happiness. She stuck her hand into her pocket and wiggled it around until she felt a piece of crumpled paper brush against the back of her hand. The yellowing parchment had stayed in her possession after she found it discarded it onto the floor, it had a list of various novels with some that had already been crossed off. In the corner it had been marked with an 'M' but she had just assumed that it stood for muggle as the list contained mostly muggle literature.
Her eyes flittered back down and took in the next novel that was going to comfort her over the next few days, turning the paper to read the scrawl that had been scribed onto the paper. The lettering read 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Brontë. Wandering over to the next few shelves she allowed her fingers to carry on gliding across the spines of the archaic books that had most likely never seen the light of day.
"Barnaby...Bell...Bowe...Brontë." Arabella flicked her eyes back and forth through the available books that had the last name Brontë carved into its side, it took a miniscule amount of time for her to find it. The book felt slightly heavy in her calloused palm, leaving her to think about the extra weight she would have to be carrying about. Excitement rushed through her once more which led her to go and search for a table in order to embark on her latest adventure without any interruptions.
A free table was found by her in the corner of the library, beside it sat an enormous stain glass portrait of a weeping willow tree. The rain outside trickled down the cracks left purposely behind by the creator of the portrait as it caused a sort of rainbow to reflect against the table. She lowered herself gently down onto the worn leather booth before hauling herself across to the innermost corner of the room, from this area she could watch everyone in the library without them being able to look back at her. She pondered over why she had never sat in such a nice area before pulling open the front cover and beginning her story.
Time had once again fell from Arabella's grasp as the treacherous rain outside calmed down to embrace the darkness that was overlapping it. She had just finished reading the twelfth chapter of the novel as her eyelids began to droop, signifying the period of the time that had passed. Placing her quill inside the page she wanted to continue on from, she gently closed her book.
A yawn expelled itself from her chest as her head slipped from her hand and fell onto her elbows that were crossed over one another and leaning on the dark oak table in front of her. Low mumbles of chatter suffocated her as she slipped into a calm and successful slumber filled with dreams of love and miscellaneous other thoughts that wrapped themselves around the front of her brain.
Another large length of time had been lived through before someone broke the silence by saying, "Someone is in our seat." A murmured voice entered her left ear without much of her mind paying attention. "Should we wake her up?" Another timid voice made itself apparent. "That's not a bad idea Wormy considering she is taking up half of the booth." Arabella opened her jaw to remove the foggy taste of sleep from her mouth. Her thick lashes parted as she aimed to regain her composure and sense of location.
"I think she is waking up." The second voice decided to say rather loudly. "Thank you for that Peter we were unable to tell by her movement." Sarcasm every so gently piled itself up on the person's words.
"Good Lord do you people ever shut up?" Her voice, hoarse from the sleep, spoke up as she turned to face the people that interrupted her rather enjoyable dreams. "In our defence you are sat in our space and there was no way for us to sit with the way you were sprawled-" An elbow launched itself into Sirius' side in order to get him to, for once, be quiet.
"Considering this is a public area this could not possibly be your seat unless you own the facility which I am fairly certain you do not. I believe the saying is 'first come, first served' and since I was here first I declared this space. However, as I can see that this awkward sensation is not going to dissipate anytime soon I will be on my way and your supposed table will be returned to your care." Finishing her incredibly clear spiel Arabella gripped her book, list and wand and forcefully shoved through the wall of boys that surrounded her.
Embarrassment flooded through her bones as she quickly sped off towards the door; a hand had attempted to stop her from leaving but after a swift manoeuvre away from the challenging palm she continued whilst ignoring the calls being thrown at her.
She cursed herself for accidentally putting herself on the radar of Hogwarts' most famous quartet. How on earth did she not know that The Marauder's had sat there since day one? She couldn't believe her idiocy and made a mental vow to herself to try and avoid the eyes of the boys that roamed the corridors making as much chaos as possible.
